NOVA project researches next generation of antimicrobial coating technologies

In the Next Generation BiOactiVe NAnocoatings (NOVA) project, 14 partners from 9 countries are working on market-ready solutions: Scientists and industry representatives are researching and testing highly efficient, environmentally friendly and stable antimicrobial (antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal) coating technologies to reduce the risk of future microbial infections.

„The corona pandemic has shown that hygiene is of paramount importance for our health. But we cannot rely on comprehensive dry cleaning all the time. We need new, highly effective technologies that are safe from the outset," says Anthonie Stuiver, Chief Scientist at AkzoNobel.

In NOVA, an interdisciplinary research team is working to develop at least four novel antimicrobial coatings for frequently touched surfaces in four specific application areas: Public spaces, medical spaces, textiles and touchscreens. The development in each of these areas will be accompanied by an industrial partner from the consortium: AkzoNobel, Siemens Healthineers, SPARTHA Medical and Evonik. In a first step, concrete challenges and application cases of the industrial partners are collected and used as a basis for the development of novel antimicrobial coating technologies by the academic NOVA partners. In addition, researchers at Preste use data-driven insights to optimise and accelerate formulations and processes for antimicrobial coatings. In a final step, the product innovation experts at Dolmen Design and Innovation are responsible for ensuring that suitable application tools are available for each final coating.

Together with partners Industrial Microbiological Services LTD and Manchester Metropolitan University, the antimicrobial materials are tested and validated. As current methods do not provide robust, reproducible data for real-life conditions, the NOVA team is also working on new antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral test methods for real-life and real-world situations.

In order to obtain information on the safety of coating materials, a team of researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems, Empa, the University of Ljubljana and Inserm are also working in NOVA to adapt existing toxicity test methods to the special requirements of coatings. The focus is also on sustainable product design.nbsp;

The antimicrobial coating solutions already developed as part of NOVA have different properties: SPARTHA Medical's antimicrobial coatings are based on contact deposition and consist of a layer-by-layer mixture of water-soluble biopolymers. The three other antimicrobial coatings from Evonik, Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials and Polymer Institute SAS are triggered by visible or artificial light and are based on different types of nanoparticles, each with different modes of action and antimicrobial activity.

&about NOVA
NOVA is coordinated by the DECHEMA Gesellschaft für Chemische Technik und Biotechnologie e.V. (Society for Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology). The project started on 1 September 2022 and will run for four years. It is funded by the European Commission as part of the Horizon Europe Framework, the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) and the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) with around 7.5 million euros.

Press release of the "idw - Informationsdienst Wissenschaft" from 04.07.2023